


black & blue

by Janne12, nahyuckminist (minhoneyboysuga)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, More tags to be added, Recreational Drug Use, all characters listed will show up in one way or another even if they're not in the first chapter, alternating pov, dancer jisung, dancer!jaemin, he gets rowdier i promise, he's a ballerina, he's very subdued in this first chapter, i will tag relationships as they come up, it will switch probably every chapter, its not detailed but its there, mild panic attacks, one sided markhyuck, past daniel/jaemin, rowdy boy donghyuck, skater!lee donghyuck, skater!lee jeno, skater!mark lee, sorry hyuckie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2019-10-22 16:30:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17666084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janne12/pseuds/Janne12, https://archiveofourown.org/users/minhoneyboysuga/pseuds/nahyuckminist
Summary: Soulmates share bruises and the like; Donghyuck is an emo skater boy; Jaemin is a dancer at the local arts school. Fate brings them together at an old, deserted skate park.





	1. donghyuck I

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spacekei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacekei/gifts).



> hello! i have fallen so far into nahyuck hell i needed a pseud for them, how wonderful.
> 
> first off, this is for the great mari who inspired this rowdy boy skater hyuck! happy bday, welcome to true adulthood!!
> 
> second, i will be posting tweets and texts made by the characters in this fic in [this twt thread fic](https://twitter.com/minhoneyboysuga/status/1092630739714170880). it will help give u some more insight as far as what the characters think and such, it's an experiment so we'll see how it goes.
> 
> third, there are a few cuts and bruises in this fic, if that makes u queasy i don't recommend it (hyuck breaks his nose eventually, as a warning). this is a soulmate au where you and your soulmate share the same skin so any cuts scrapes or bruises show up on theirs, but a little different. it gets explained more in depth.
> 
> lastly, i hope u enjoy my little rarepair, they mean the world to me and im really excited to show u what the rest of the plot has in store uwu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> donghyuck grows up and gets his heart broken early

When Lee Donghyuck was eight years old, he walked into his house after his first day of second grade, wide smile on his face and so many new stories to tell his parents about the friends he had already made with the new school year. Well, that had been his plan, but his mom interrupted when he opened the door only to see her eyes widen in panic and she seized his face in her hands within seconds.

“What did you do to your eye, Hyuckie?” She asked with a startling amount of panic and Donghyuck furrowed his brow in return.

“What do you mean what did I do?” He asked irritably and his mom gave him a disapproving look.

“Donghyuck, if you’re getting into fights at school-”

“Mom, what are you talking about?” Donghyuck interrupted her immediately and her face scrunched in confusion before her features smoothed out and she smiled wide.

“Go take a look in the bathroom, honey,” she said while she ruffled his hair. Donghyuck was still confused but he did as she told him and went to go check out what she had been so panicked over.

Donghyuck felt like he had seen a ghost.

“W-what happened to my face?!” He screamed and laughter could be heard from the living room.

“Come here, Hyuckie, I think it’s time your dad and I tell you a story.”

 

“No one knows how, but the universe has picked soulmates for everyone,” his mom started as she settled her son on her lap securely with her arms. “There are signs to recognize who your soulmate is but you have to be paying close attention, Hyuckie. Whoever your soulmate is wears the same skin as you.”

Donghyuck pulled a face.

“Not literally, just that whatever happens to your skin happens to your soulmates - well, there are some exceptions to the rule. Bruises and scars show up the same but any actual cuts or scrapes just appear as very dark scars. Your, uh -” she cut off her words to snicker into her hand, “shiner, there, is from your soulmate. It looks like they might be a little combative. Or clumsy,” she added with a smirk.

“Does that mean the time I walked into the oven door and bruised my forehead my soulmate saw it?” Donghyuck immediately asked. “And that time I fell off the swings and bruised my right butt?!”

His mom couldn’t hold in her laughter after seeing the pure mortification on her sons face.

“Yes, they definitely saw those times and they’ll see all your future injuries so just try to be careful while you’re out doing things and remember it doesn’t only affect you, but your soulmate as well.”

“So, when I meet my soulmate, do I have to-” Donghyuck paled. “Do I have to _marry_ them?”

It was his father’s turn to laugh this time. “No, you can just be friends with your soulmate, they’re just someone who is meant to be in your life for a very very long time. And you two get to decide how that is.”

Donghyuck nodded before his eyes lit up.

“Do you think Mark is my soulmate? He and I are gonna be best friends forever!”

“You can go see if his eye is bruised too if you want, he should be home from school,” his mother encouraged and Donghyuck smiled wide as he kissed her cheek before hopping off her lap onto the floor. He raced towards his best friend Mark Lee’s house which was directly across the street from his own house. He knocked frantically only to have Johnny - Mark’s five-years-older brother - open the door with an overly worried face.

“Haechanie, what happened to your face?” Johnny asked as he lowered himself to be on Donghyuck’s level, the older being stupidly huge for his age which never failed to upset the younger, but he smiled wide despite that fact.

“I have a clumsy soulmate!” He declared and Johnny let out a loud laugh, breathing away his concerns as he raised a finger to boop Donghyuck’s nose.

“You scared me, I thought you got into a fight.”

Donghyuck shrugged. “So did my mom, but when I told her it wasn’t me she said that she and my dad and _something to tell me_ and then they told me I have a soulmate! Who apparently also has a black eye!”

“You seem very excited about the fact your soulmate is injured currently.”

“Mmm, I’m not, I actually feel really bad for them, this looks painful,” Donghyuck said with a frown but the thought of his soulmate hurting was enough to jolt him out of his reverie. “Where’s Mark?” He asked excitedly and Johnny just opened the door and gestured towards the backyard where the glass door was open, the screen slid shut while Mark ran around in on the grass with his family’s dog, a big chocolate lab named Sasha that almost never ceased to have energy no matter what her owners did. He held one end of a rope while Sasha had the other in her mouth, the two playing an awkward form of tug-of-war that was mostly just Mark being thrown around by the much stronger dog.

When Donghyuck reached the door, Sasha let go of the rope to run over and tackle him to the grass, leaving slobbery kisses all over his face.

“S-sasha! Please! I’ll die!” Donghyuck screamed and Mark came over, pushing Sasha lightly before she gave in and moved, twirling a few times next to the two boys.

“Woah, Hyuck, what happened to-”

“You’re not my soulmate,” Donghyuck said with a pout and Mark let out a surprised laugh.

“W-what?”

“You don’t have a black eye,” the younger explained. “My dad said you and your soulmates will be best friends forever and _we’re_ best friends forever, so I don’t get it.”

“Ooh, I see what you mean now.” Mark said with a nod. Well, we can be like friend soulmates anyways! You’re my best friend in the whole world!” Mark said with a big smile and Donghyuck couldn’t help but drop his pout in exchange for his own grin.

“Yeah! Who needs some stinky universe to tell them who their soulmate is!” Donghyuck said and Mark nodded happily.

 

The day after the soulmate talk, Donghyuck’s six-year-old brother ran up to him with an evil glint in his eye and his hand behind his back.

“I heard what Mama and Papa said yesterday!” He yelled before retracting his hands from behind his back and showing off the open stapler in his hand for less than a second before he pressed the cold metal against the exposed portion of Donghyuck’s crossed arms, pressing quicker than Donghyuck could react and stapling the outside of his left arm.

“OW WHAT THE CRAP, YEONJUN!” Donghyuck screeched as he jumped back, looking at his arm from every direction, a silver bar of metal clinging to his arm no matter how he moved and it was starting to sting really bad, making panic rise in his gut.

“Hey hey, what’s going on in h- Yeonjun what are you doing with the stapler!?” Their mom yelped as she ran into the room soon after. She grabbed the stapler from his little brother and her eyes widened in shock and slight panic when she saw the staple sticking out of Donghyuck’s arm. “Yeonjun, sweetie, why did you staple your brother’s arm?” She asked as calmly as she could manage, her voice even higher than normal.

“So he has something with his soulmate!” He proclaimed simply and proudly and she closed her eyes and smiled, laughing slightly in a weird kind of relief.

“Junnie, honey, we don’t staple people and give them ouchies just so they can find their soulmate, that’s not okay,” she explained after kneeling down to get on eye level with her middle son. He lowered his eyes and nodded sadly and Donghyuck felt the need to comfort him even though he was the one who got hurt.

“Hey, Yeonjunie, I’ll be fine, just please don’t staple me again. Also don’t staple the twins,” Donghyuck said as evenly as he could while he felt like crying because now the staple was starting to bleed and he was definitely panicking.

“Come here Hyuckie, let’s clean you up,” his mom said as she ushered him to the open kitchen and sat him up on the counter before grabbing the first aid kit and tending to the wound. He hissed when she removed the offending piece of metal and again when she touched the alcohol pad to the two punctures.

“Thank you for being nice to him, Sunshine,” she said quietly as she applied a band-aid and placed a kiss.

“He didn’t know it was going to hurt me, I guess it’s fine,” he grumbled, rubbing the spot on his arm gingerly, careful not to add any pressure.

“You’ll have a fun time explaining that one to your soulmate,” his mom commented and his stomach churned at the words but then he thought of Mark and he smiled wide and nodded in agreement.

  


When Hyuck turned twelve years old, he realized his feelings towards Mark weren’t exactly how a best friend should feel. Sure they always joked around about being friend soulmates and most people thought they actually were (outside of their family and close group of friends) but that’s all they could ever be - jokes.

Donghyuck sometimes felt like crying knowing he wasn’t _true_ soulmates with Mark but his heart was satiated by the knowledge that Mark would always be his best friend, though even that knowledge had come to be painful to think about recently. Every time Donghyuck would get a new scrape or cut when he and Mark were racing down the street, skating as fast as they could manage on their cheap Walmart skateboards. Or Mark would end up inevitably running into the counter/door/wall/any surface really and gain yet another bruise to add to the collection, and yet they never added to each other’s, Donghyuck’s heart ached a little more each time.

And with each darker-than-usual bruise on Donghyuck’s thighs and legs that he had no memory of gaining, he felt more and more like bursting from the pressure in his heart.

But this was fine, they would make it through all of these trying times and come out on top. Because they had to, they were best friend soulmates.

  


When Mark was sixteen, now in his sophomore year of high school with Donghyuck and Jeno - a new friend Donghyuck had made in middle school along with Zhong Chenle, who was now in eighth grade - in their freshman years at the same school, is when Donghyuck’s world broke a little. Completely shattered was more fitting, but Mark didn’t need to know that.

They had been at the skate park they always went to, which Mark found a few years ago in some older neighborhood a few streets from their middle school. The concrete was a little discolored from the weather, and probably from age, if Donghyuck had to guess, and there was a black metal fence surrounding the area. Grass filled in the rest of the space outside with a single stall restroom near two metal tables that sat under a ramada a few feet away.

Mark had met a boy named Lucas in his grade and decided to invite him to come hang out with all of them. He had been so excited when he told the freshmen about his plan, almost too excited to be normal, but Donghyuck brushed it off as normal from making a new friend.

The three younger boys had been hanging out on the tables, feet resting on the attached benches while they waited for their oldest friend to arrive, Mark having told Jeno and Donghyuck to go ahead while he went to find Lucas.

They were idly chatting about some band Jeno had found that he thought Donghyuck would love when the sound of laughter could be heard approaching. Donghyuck whipped his head around to see Mark walking with a guy much taller than he was, who he figured must be the infamous Lucas.

“Hey guys!” Mark called and Jeno was the first to react, smiling at the newcomer genuinely and waving at them both.

“Hey! Who’s he?” Chenle asked before Jeno could say anything and Mark smiled brighter than Donghyuck had maybe _ever_ seen and that hurt more than he cared to admit.

“This is Lucas!” He called over the few feet to the group, introducing the other in a way that rivaled how proud Donghyuck’s dad sounded whenever he even so much as _talked_ about Donghyuck’s mom to anyone, and he seemed almost nervous to be introducing them all.

Donghyuck didn’t say anything when the duo reached the table, stomach feeling uneasy for some reason, and though Mark gave him a concerned look, he let it slide for that moment.

Chenle squinted his eyes at Donghyuck in confusion and the older couldn’t really blame him. He wasn’t normally this subdued, especially not if there was the potential of making a new friend. But there was just _something_ about the two that made his heart hurt and his stomach feel bottomless. He didn’t like this feeling, he decided.

About half an hour later, Mark was skating around with Lucas while Donghyuck and Jeno sat talking. Chenle was sitting and looking at his phone, smiling happily and Donghyuck had just opened his mouth to asked Chenle who he was texting that made him so smiley when there was the distinct, sharp sound of a skateboard slipping out from under someone and a grunt of pain.

“Mark!” The three boys yelled at the same time, converging on him as quickly as possible, Lucas already looking him over with concerned movements. Mark sat up with a wince and waved all four of them off.

“It’s fine, I’m fine, just a little fall, nothing I can’t handle. Though this is gonna bruise pretty bad,” he rambled, looking over at the scrape on his arm that ran down to his elbow. Donghyuck was about to open his mouth to scold Mark for being so clumsy all the time when he caught sight of it; Lucas was touching his arm as it slowly faded to a dark pattern, eerily similar in shape and size as the scrape on Mark’s arm. There was a dark bruise surrounding it already but Lucas seemed to be completely unaffected as he rubbed over the spot with his hand, never once looking at it.

There it was. The reason he had felt so uneasy.

Lucas and Mark were _soulmates_.

Donghyuck’s vision blurred a little before he stood up and ran to the bathroom, quickly yelling at them over his shoulder about going to grab some paper towels for the scrape. He locked the door behind as he sank to his butt, letting himself cry for a few seconds before he wiped at his face to clear up the evidence. He calmed his breathing as much as he could and took a few more deep breaths before he wet down some paper towels, heading back out to hand them to a worried Jeno.

“Hey, Hyuck, you okay?” Mark asked with concern flooding his eyes and Donghyuck could only smile and nod.

“You’re really worried about me when you’re the one that fell?” Donghyuck managed to ask, his voice only cracking a tiny bit. His phone buzzed in his pocket but he decided to ignore it for that moment. Right now, he wanted to sit and watch as Jeno fussed over Mark, tending to his wound with Lucas sat at his side, gently holding the hand of Mark’s uninjured arm.

They got back to their normal routine after Mark told everyone he would be fine, each of them cycling between doing tricks, skating down in the bowl, making sure Mark didn’t somehow fall again, and just sitting and relaxing on their phones. Donghyuck watched for three hours as Lucas and Mark gave each other the sweetest looks and as Mark laughed at every tiny little thing Lucas said, even if it wasn’t even remotely funny, making even his soulmate look concerned for his health.

“-my best friend Jaemin is always complaining about it!” Donghyuck suddenly tuned back into what Jeno was telling him and Chenle and he blinked a little confusedly. “You weren’t listening to a thing I said, were you?” Jeno asked with a sad smile.

Donghyuck ducked his head in embarrassment, cheeks burning.

“Sorry, I’m just distracted,” he tried to excuse himself but Chenle beat both of them to the explanation.

“By Lucas and Mark being soulmates?”

Donghyuck balked, mouth opening and closing a few times before he turned to see the two aforementioned boys standing at the other side of the park with Mark trying to teach Lucas how to do an ollie.

Donghyuck lowered his head once again and received a few pats on his back as consolation from both of his friends. He gave them a weak smile and Jeno returned it.

“So my friend Jaemin-” Donghyuck tuned the other’s voice out as he stared at his shoes in disdain for the whole soulmate system and how awful it felt to lose someone you love, even if not in a literal sense.

  


The summer after Donghyuck’s sophomore year of high school, Mark had suggested all of their friends - which now included a boy named Park Jisung, who became friends with Chenle after moving to his middle school in the second semester and was easily adopted by everyone else - go camping for Donghyuck’s sixteenth birthday.

It had been almost a year since Mark and Lucas met and found out they were soulmates, one year that Donghyuck avoided the topic as much as he possibly could; he would quickly change the subject if someone asked him about what was bothering him, he would laugh it off if he ever accidentally saw Mark and Lucas doing something rated PG-13 (kissing, they were only kissing, and it only happened the one time he didn’t knock on Mark’s door, but he digresses), but overall, he seemed to limit how much time he spent hanging out with Mark, steadily getting closer to Jeno and Chenle in his avoidance of the soulmates.

They got much closer over that following year, neither of his friends mentioning his obvious change in demeanor towards his best friend. It wasn’t that he stopped hanging out with or talking to Mark, he just seemed to be avoiding long conversations and extended periods of time with Lucas. And Chenle and Jeno never forced him to talk about it, though he knew they were always itching to know the truth.

Jeno always mentioned his own best friend, Na Jaemin who was a student at the arts academy a few blocks away from their public high school, and how well he thought Jaemin and the group would get along but the guy was always busy with dance recitals and practicing and homework, his parents adding a lot of pressure to do well in everything he did. Donghyuck honestly wanted to meet him if only because then it meant Jaemin would have a free moment to breathe.

 

The drive up had been an adventure to say the least; Mark and Lucas, being the only two with their licenses out of the group, had deliberated for nearly a full ten minutes over who was going to drive the van - Donghyuck’s mom offered up her minivan as transportation when he had asked for permission to go with, making the two drivers swear on their mother’s lives they were going to drive safely and not a single scratch would be on her vehicle when they returned it the next day - up the mountain to get to the campsite. Jisung huffed out a frustrated breath and cleared his throat, interrupting their planning that was getting absolutely nowhere.

“Mark, you’re driving us up. Lucas, you’re driving us back. It’s already noon and we don’t have all day,” he said with an annoyed finality and Mark looked like he was about to open his mouth to argue when Lucas let out a joking “yes, sir,” and saluted to Jisung.

They all piled into the vehicle, the two youngest, Jisung and Chenle, in the backseat, Jeno and Donghyuck sitting in the captain seats and the soulmates sitting up front. Donghyuck was pretty much over whatever ill feelings he had had towards the couple. He didn’t get that terrible twinge when he was just around either of them anymore which was a step in the right direction for sure. Lucas seemed like a nice guy but Donghyuck had kept both his best friend and his soulmate at arms length for the last year and he felt slightly like he couldn’t fix it at this point.

Donghyuck decided to listen to music for the drive up, closing his eyes leaning against the window. He hadn’t been to keen on the idea of seeing or hearing Mark and Lucas flirting the entire drive. Jeno was turned in his seat so he could talk with Jisung and Chenle, giving Donghyuck worried looks every few minutes. It would take about forty-five minutes to make it to the campsite and another twenty to get everything unloaded from the trunk and set up, and Donghyuck felt exhausted already.

Halfway through the car ride, his phone buzzed in his hand and he found a text from Jeno, asking if he was okay, along with two other notifications he had somehow missed from the older, similar statements of worry staring back at him. Donghyuck sighed and took out a headphone, pausing the angsty pop punk song currently pumping through the small earbuds.

“I’m fine, just tired,” he answered aloud and Mark looked at him through the rear-view mirror with concern but said nothing.

“Did you not sleep well last night?” Jisung asked from the back and Donghyuck turned so his legs were sideways in his seat managing to fit under the armrest easily.

“Yeah, I just couldn’t stop waking up, the twins had their friends over and they would not go to sleep,” he explained with an annoyed huff and Jeno shook his head in condolence. They spent the rest of the drive up joking back and forth about anything and everything, Mark becoming the butt of most of their jokes. Lucas and Donghyuck had joined forces more than a few times and the younger realized he didn’t feel that awful tugging in his gut when talking to his best friend’s soulmate that he once had.

When they were finally parked and had to get everything out of the car, they decided the Jisung, Chenle, and Donghyuck would unload the bags while Jeno, Mark, and Lucas, set up the tent. On Donghyuck’s second trip, he grabbed the last two bags from the trunk and as he set one of them down, a very potent and very strong smell wafted towards his nostrils.

“Oh shit, what the fuck is in this bag?” Donghyuck cursed and help his nose away, scrunching it up in distaste.

“Shit, I don’t think I closed the jar tight enough, I’m so sorry,” Lucas said, suddenly right behind him. He grabbed the bag quickly, unzipping the big pocket before pulling out a small mason jar with something Donghyuck was only vaguely familiar with but the connection was easy to make.

“Is that weed?” He blurted out and everyone dropped what they were doing to rush over.

“What? You actually brought that with?” Mark asked with a slightly upset tone and Lucas smiled sheepishly.

“It makes it easier for me to sleep, plus you guys are welcome to join, I made sure I brought enough just in case but I wasn’t sure,” Lucas explained and Donghyuck and Jeno’s eyes widened as they turned to each other before their expressions immediately changed into mutual looks of mischief.

“If only Jaemin were here, he’s been wanting to smoke for a while,” Jeno commented and Donghyuck’s interest was piqued.

“Hell yeah,” Donghyuck said, not sure if it was entirely towards being able to smoke or about the potential of hanging out with the infamous Jaemin. Chenle jumped in with his own “ooh me too!” but quickly glared Jisung down when he tried to join in.

“You’re a baby Jisungie, you can’t yet.”

“You’re barely a few months older than me!”

“Yeah but I’m y- I said no!” Chenle stumbled over his words and Donghyuck was about to question it what Chenle had been about to say but then Jisung was pouting and rolling his eyes.

“Fine, I won’t partake in the devil’s lettuce with you heathens because I am but a _baby_ ,” he said bitterly and Chenle smiled widely and Donghyuck knew that look far too well, but he figured now wasn’t the time to address it.

 

It was nearing sunset when the group returned from their hiking trip, Donghyuck continuing his habits of avoiding talking with Mark or Lucas for extended periods of time and being sure to keep Jeno in between them at all times. It was tiring work but he couldn’t change the fact that this is what he made their friendship become, and it would be hard to come back from it, if it was even possible.

They arrived back at their campsite, Lucas immediately going towards their fire pit and getting it set up with the wood they bought the day before. Mark started making their dinner while Jeno helped. Chenle and Jisung brought the chairs around the now kindling campfire Lucas was tending to and Donghyuck wasn’t entirely sure where he should go hang out and so he opted for pulling his headphones back out and going on a walk but staying close in the woods near where they were sleeping.

He found a tree where he could sit and see the group clearly and they would easily be able to find him and decided to rest his eyes for a little. After two songs cycled through he felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked up to see Lucas hovering somewhat awkwardly.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked, shifting from foot to foot and Donghyuck nodded with a smile.

“Yeah I’m good, what’s up?” Donghyuck asked, seeing Lucas hadn’t moved from his spot.

“Do you… This is going to be awkward, I’m sorry, but did I do something to make you hate me?” He asked after a few moments and Donghyuck was taken aback. Even when he had first met Lucas and found everything out about his soulmate bond with Mark, he hadn’t hated the older. He had been pissed off at the soulmate system and how it was not making his life what he felt it should have been as a child. But he had never felt hatred or dislike towards Lucas himself, he had only been an innocent bystander in Donghyuck’s rage.

“No, I don’t hate you. Why would you feel like that?” He asked and Lucas pulled a somehow even more awkward expression and Donghyuck winced.

“You, seem to be much more comfortable with everyone but me, and Mark said you’ve even been more distant from him since we met and I just- I feel like it was maybe something I did.” Lucas finished his ramble and Donghyuck felt awful.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel that way,” Donghyuck apologized, looking down sadly. “I- to be totally honest, I wasn’t thrilled with you and Mark being soulmates, but it wasn’t exactly my place to be upset so I just didn’t really say anything,” he tried explaining but Lucas just continued to look more confused as Donghyuck talked and he wasn’t sure being vague was going to work with this.

Donghyuck patted the space beside him and Lucas sat down obediently, eyes curiously watching Donghyuck’s face.

“I spent a lot of my childhood being best friends with Mark, and in that time we came up with this idea that we were actually soulmates even though our bruises never matched, and Mark always had a lot,” Donghyuck stopped with a small laugh, thinking back to how clumsy Mark had been.

“He was so clumsy! I always had to reassure my mom that my soulmate was the one who kept getting hurt and then she had to console me that he wasn’t being beat up all the time,” Lucas added and Donghyuck couldn’t help but laugh out loud at that.

“That honestly sounds really accurate, I’m sorry about the time he broke his arm, it was a little bit my own fault. We started skating and I dared him to drop down first and he snapped the bones two seconds later,” he apologized with a smirk that said he thought it was funnier than he was letting on. “But anyways, we had this inside thing between us that we were soulmates but then you came along and kind of shattered that?”

Donghyuck let out a slightly bitter laugh but finished his explanation before Lucas could respond. “I didn’t blame you, and I’ve never disliked or hated you, I more hated the circumstances that we met in.”

They sat in silence for a little before Lucas held out a hand, what Donghyuck recognized as a pipe loaded with a bowl of weed extended towards him.

“I can’t make up for that, but I guess I can offer this?” He said and Donghyuck let out a laugh.

“Only in exchange for a do-over? I feel bad about how I acted this last year,” Donghyuck countered and Lucas smiled widely with a nod and quickly taught Donghyuck what he should do in order to not cough and die (though he still ended up having a coughing fit anyways).

“Hey, bring that over here you greedy bitches!” Jeno called over to them after he caught onto the reason behind Donghyuck’s coughs. Donghyuck flipped him off before standing up and walking over, Lucas by his side and seeing a smile on Mark’s face as they approached and things seemed brighter than they had in a long time.


	2. jaemin I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jaemin's home life and personal life are often at war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i should specify before this chapter starts: this is set in the U.S. (somewhere in cali prob ??) so everyone speaks english, but they also know their native languages. so renjun, lucas, and chenle know chinese and hyuck, mark, jaemin, jeno, and jisung know korean. they mostly speak english at home tho. a little more bg: chenles family is pretty adamant that he stays fluent so they only speak chinese at home. johnny and marks mom speaks korean 90% of the time at home bc she misses korea so her sons switch back and forth for her sake (this is why johnny calls hyuck, haechan and it makes sense for the setting). hyucks family that live in korea come to visit every chrsitmas/new years and during the spring time and hyucks family goes to korea for chuseok and for two weeks out of the summer break so they all know korean bc they have to but his parents mostly speak english in the house. okay thank you for coming to my unnecessarily long and detailed ted talk about the logistics of language in this au. also the teacher names are half made up and half teachers from my old high school.
> 
> now that thats out of the way, happy (late) valentines day! sorry this update is late, i work for a tax company and it is currently Tax Season ^tm and im moving next weekend so im sorry about the update being a little late as well but ill get onto the weekly schedule once im settled in the new apartment!
> 
> sorry if this chapter feels at all rushed, there wasn't much else that felt necessary to include without it feeling like too much so this is what we've ended with so hopefully you enjoy it
> 
> okay thank you for reading, i will see you in the next update.

Jaemin and Jeno had been studying for no more than ten minutes before Jeno brought up the skate park once again. It wasn’t that Jaemin didn’t _want_ to meet Jeno’s other friends. In fact, he had heard so much about them he was probably already friends with them by association - specifically his friend Donghyuck, he seemed to remember more about that friend than the others that were brought up - and therefore knew he would get along with them. It was just that Jaemin never had any time.

His father had him rehearsing his choreographies for class and competitions from the moment he got home until he felt like he was about to drop, and then he had piano practice every single day with his mom for two hours. After that, he had to do all of the homework he was assigned at school, usually finishing only a few minutes before what would be his curfew if he was ever able to go do anything fun or for himself.

Usually, he would invite Jeno over to hang out and do homework with him, but recently his best friend had been hanging out with his friends at the skate park for longer than usual, leaving Jaemin to do more than half his homework by himself. He wasn’t jealous, per se, but he felt really left out.

He was always exhausted by the time he was done with piano practice, every muscle feeling achy, and on his free days that his mom was able to convince his father into giving him from dancing, he spent having to study for any sort of test coming up. And to top it all off, he usually had trouble sleeping at night, his brain focusing on everything he could have done with his day if his father would just let him be a teenager for _once_.

Bottom line was; Jaemin did not have the time nor energy to go hang out at a skate park for any amount of time, not on a normal day at least.

“I really wish you were able to come hang out sometime, it would be so much fun having you all together,” Jeno whined and Jaemin rolled his eyes.

“If by some miracle I ever get free time after school, I promise I will come hang out with you and your little group of hooligan friends,” Jaemin soothed the other and Jeno grinned widely in response.

“That’s good enough for me,” he said and then they went back to doing their respective homework assignments. He wasn’t sure what Jeno was so happy about, it would take a literal miracle or fairy godmother to grant his wish of getting free time.

After another hour, when they were done with homework, Jaemin suddenly remembered something he’d been meaning to tell Jeno about since that morning.

“Oh, I’ll be at your school for district prelims on Friday,” he said and Jeno sat up with a wide smile.

“You can meet my friends!” Was his first comment, and then, “wait, does that mean Jisung and Renjun will be there too?”

Jaemin rolled his eyes, Jeno had been obsessed with his friend Renjun in particular after the three of his friends were able to meet only three weeks prior. “Yes to both, we’ll have lunch when you guys do.”

“Hell yes! You’ll love everybody, they’re really cool, and Donghyuck is hilarious.”

“You sure mention this Donghyuck a lot,” Jaemin said with a smirk and Jeno rolled his eyes.

“It’s not what you think, you dummy, also trust me, he doesn’t have the scar on his leg, I’ve seen him in shorts during the summers. Wouldn’t crush on a lost cause like tha- shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything.”

Jaemin had started tensing up a little at the topic, not wanting to think about anything even close to it. He quickly waved his hand around, as if that could dissipate the tension.

“It’s okay, I know what you mean, it is pretty silly to crush on someone even when you know you’re not soulmates,” Jaemin stated bitterly and Jeno’s face twisted up in frustration.

“Hey, you know that’s not what I meant, I just mean that Donghyuck and I are only friends and I also happen to know he’s not my soulmate. I wasn’t trying to say anything- I didn’t mean to bring _him_ up,” Jeno said with such distaste on the neutral word.

Jaemin had known he and his ex weren’t soulmates, he knew they were only ever going to end in heartbreak from the moment they met. It was easy for Jaemin because he had two small dots, slightly darker than a normal scar, on his left forearm. It wasn’t hard to see people’s forearms, especially since it was on the nicer side of things weather-wise recently.

Daniel had never had the two dots and Jaemin had come to accept that but he hadn’t expected to fall so hard for someone he wasn't meant to be with. It still hurt even though he had only been in his freshman year at the time.

Jaemin took a deep breath, bringing himself back to the present and gave Jeno a tired smile.

“I think I’m gonna go to sleep soon, if that’s cool, I had a long day,” he said, and it wasn’t a lie, but thinking about the events of nearly two years ago made Jaemin’s energy levels drop instantly. He hated he still had this effect on him even this long after.

Jeno gave a sympathetic smile before nodding and getting up to put his shoes back on.

“I really am sorry, I don’t think before I say things sometimes,” Jeno explained and Jaemin waved him off once more.

“It’s really fine, Jeno, don’t worry about me.”

Jeno went home not long after and Jaemin laid down, hoping he would fall asleep early but he knew it was a slim chance. Not when he could only think of _him_ and what would have happened to them if he had made any other decision.

  


District preliminaries were always stressful. Every year, the schools in the district brought together all of their creative arts students to better their skills and put on a huge entertainment event at the end of it all. With each year, where the events took place changed; last year it had been at Neo Arts Academy, the school Jaemin attended, and this year it would be held at the school Jeno went to with his friends.

Jaemin’s dance teacher had informed him he would be performing a duet with a student at the public school up the street and they would be in charge of everything and he was immediately brainstorming ideas of songs he could suggest to his unknown dance partner.

The day of prelims was filled with workshop after workshop; teachers from every school helping each group with their performances and what they should be focusing on improving. After all, Districts was a competition at its very core. Jaemin wished he could have one day off, just one, with how busy his schedule was going to be. But once his father knows about his performance he’s going to be worked to the bone, even more so than he already was.

He sighed at the thought but smiled once he was walking onto the slightly smaller, open campus of the public high school, his friends Renjun and Jisung on either side of him as they got off the bus.

“I’m so excited! Chenle and Yeri go to school here!” Jisung singsonged and Jaemin smiled at his friends joy.

“Hey we also get to meet the elusive Chenle Zhong today,” Renjun said with a conspiratorial smile. “I wonder why Jisung is so in lo-,” he started to tease before a teacher walked up to them from the administration office, effectively cutting off his words.

“Neo Arts students?” She asked with a friendly smile and the three boys nodded. “Everyone’s meeting in the auditorium to start out today and then you should have already been told what classroom to go to by your homeroom teacher once you’re done there.”

They nodded again and thanked her, walking towards the designated building while following the signs that guided their steps near the middle of the school. Jaemin easily found the entrance of the auditorium and the trio claimed some chairs near the center of the rows of seats.

“Do you guys know who you’re partnered with yet?” Renjun asked and he got two sad head shakes in return.

“Mr. Decker said we wouldn't meet our partners 'til today so we couldn’t make any prejudgments,” Chenle said and Jaemin nodded.

“Mrs. Johnson told us the same thing,” Jaemin confirmed with a frown and Renjun laughed as he poked at Jaemin's cheek. The trio of friends bickered back and forth until the lights flashed, giving them a five minute warning, and they settled anxiously with the others in the room.

 

The opening assembly went over as well as could be expected of a room full of arts-centric students - that is, starting nearly ten minutes late and ending with everyone leaving as slowly as they could, crowding the aisles of the auditorium seats and forcing the impatient people to climb over the backs of the bolted down seating, only to be yelled at for going over the backs. They made their way to the dance practice room they has all been assigned - one of only two on the entire campus - and sat down, waiting for their first workshop to begin.

Had Jaemin been paying more attention, he would have noticed a pair of familiar eyes keeping track of him. He would have noticed someone approaching his small group of friends. Had he been paying any attention to his surroundings, Jaemin could have prepared himself to see _him_ for the first time in years.

“Jaemin?” A voice spoke and Jaemin’s spine went rigid, eyes widening as he stared at his friends in disbelief. His friend’s expressions mirrored his own and Jaemin cleared his throat before turning his head to look up at the person the voice belonged to.

“Daniel,” he said, his stomach rolling with anxiety. His voice cracked slightly on the first syllable but he didn't think it was too noticeable.

“It’s been a while, huh?” Daniel responded sheepishly and Jaemin nodded tightly. It had been Jaemin who pushed the older boy away. He shouldn’t feel this awful two years later.

“Yeah, I didn’t realize you were going to be here,” Jaemin said with a slightly shaky voice and Daniel gave him a sad smile. He opened his mouth to respond but then one of the teachers was standing up and calling the group of students to attention.

“Okay, good morning everyone, I hope you’re all as excited as we are for this years districts!” He started with an enthusiastic note to his voice and it juxtaposed the feeling of absolute despair that currently resided in Jaemin’s gut. “First off, I wanted to announce the pairs that will be doing the duet pieces for the performance, since I know your teachers wanted those to be a surprise.”

Jaemin snapped out of his trance at the words and refocused, feeling Renjun and Chenle’s concerned stares on his back but chose to ignore them.

“So first off, we have Yerim Kim with Jisung Park,” the teacher read off a list in his hand and Jaemin smiled at the luck of the childhood best friends. The duo made eye contact across the room and made equally terrifying faces of mischief. “Next, we have Jaemin Na-” said boy’s ears perked up at his own name “-and Daniel Kang.”

Jaemin felt his heart sink to his feet. Absolutely not. There was no way. He wasn’t about to do a dance duet with his ex-fucking-boyfriend. Jaemin was out of the room faster than he could claim to need to pee. He missed the third pairing announcement as he felt the panic rise quicker and quicker up his throat.

There was absolutely no fucking way this was happening to him. Jaemin felt like puking as he ran to the nearest bathroom, ending up needing to leave the building as the gym bathrooms were currently being cleaned. He ran across the quad, his phone vibrating insistently in his pocket, probably all texts of concern from his friends.

He barely made it to a bathroom stall before he felt the tears running down his cheeks. Why the hell did his ex-boyfriend, of all people, have to be his dance partner? Jaemin checked his phone, replying to Jisung and Renjun’s messages quickly before taking a few deep breaths and standing back up and heading back to the gym to get to the dance practice room.

Jaemin turned a corner and a sudden door opened, nearly knocking Jaemin in the face, had he not already had his hands up to crack his knuckles. He caught the edge of the door with his hand as quickly as he could, barely saving himself from a splitting headache and an awkward forehead bruise to have to later explain to the soulmate he has yet to meet.

He turned his gaze to see a boy much shorter than him as he pushed him to the side, albeit a little roughly. Jaemin could have sworn he felt electric in the touch but then the boy was saying, “Watch where you’re fucking going, asshole,” and then the feeling was gone and Jaemin was scowling back.

“You’re the one who threw the door open in my face!” He called back, voice croaking a little from having just been crying but the other didn’t seem to notice or care if he did as he just flipped him off and stormed off in a different direction. Jaemin huffed and rolled his eyes, mentally preparing to walk back in and have to interact and talk with the boy he broke his own heart over.

 

At lunch, Jaemin managed to track down Jeno at his lunch table using the almost too vague directions texted to him after the lunch bell rang.

“Jaemin! Over here! We saved you guys some seats,” his best friend shouted from where he was sitting with his own friends and Jaemin let out a sigh of relief. The three of them sat down at the table and Jaemin easily counted the four people - easily figuring who was Chenle considering Jisung was instantly glued to the boys side, and who Mark and Lucas were simply because they were the only couple and he knew they were soulmates from Jeno’s stories - noticing one of them was missing. “Guys, this is my best friend Jaemin, we grew up together,” he explained once they were settled and the three others greeted the new members.

“I’m Renjun, I’m a Junior at Neo Arts with Jaemin,” Renjun went first in introducing himself and Jisung quickly followed suit.

“I’m Jisung, I’m a Sophomore.” Jaemin noted that Chenle looked overly proud to have Jisung introducing himself to his friends. He would definitely have to question the younger on that later.

“I’m Mark! And this is my soulmate Lucas,” Mark spoke with a wide smile and Jaemin felt his chest warm and contract in pain simultaneously at the clear love in Mark’s voice. “Donghyuck got lunch detention for not finishing his English homework last night,” he added.

Jaemin tried to conceal his disappointment, he wasn’t even sure why he was so disappointed, he had never met any of Jeno’s friends and yet here he was, upset that one specific friend couldn’t be there the one chance he would probably have.

“Don’t look so upset about it, Nana,” Jeno laughed and Jaemin scowled at his best friend for using his family’s nickname at school. “He’s usually gone during lunches, he hates doing his lit assignments and Mrs. Barker has hated him since he had her freshman year.”

Jaemin nodded before looking around the table, Lucas easily striking up a conversation about how Mr. McKinley was wearing leopard print underwear today to fill in the silence and that instantly grabbed Renjun and Jeno’s attention. He had introduced the two once before and they hadn’t stopped tweeting or texting each other since.

Jaemin turned his attention to the Sophomore’s, seeing Jisung smiling softly at the older boy as he explained something that was going on during his second period class, Chenle blushing brightly in response while they giggled about something on Chenle’s phone. Jaemin rolled his eyes and looked over to see Mark with his head leaned against Lucas’ shoulder, eyes closed serenely and he could tell their hands were clasped together under the table.

“Oh hey Jaemin, did you find out who your dance partner is?” Jeno asked with a bright smile and Jaemin felt his stomach churn again at the thought. Renjun seemed to be making a gesture that told Jeno to be quiet but Jaemin let out a wry laugh.

“You’re gonna laugh, you’ll never fucking guess,” Jaemin stated and Jeno’s smile fell off his face at his tone.

“Oh my god, please no,” he whispered softly and Jaemin nodded.

“One Daniel Kang,” Jaemin said and Mark made a face of recognition.

“Hey, that guy is insanely pretty,” Mark said and Jeno smacked him upside the head while Lucas made wounded puppy faces at him. “Obviously you’re prettier, babe. He was just one of my gay awakenings.”

“You and me both,” Jaemin mumbled and Mark tilted his head but Jaemin just waved it off, not feeling up for talking about his ex at that moment.

The rest of lunch passed slowly and yet it was over far sooner than Jaemin wanted it to be. The second half of the day for the people doing solos and duets was meant for beginning planning. Which meant spending more time with Daniel individually. Great.

Jeno stopped Jaemin before he could leave the cafeteria, pulling him into a bear hug and not letting go for a few seconds longer than was probably necessary.

“Jeno, please, I need to breathe,” Jaemin gasped and Jeno finally released him.

“Please text your mom and asked if you can come hang out with me today?” Jeno pleaded and as Jaemin was about to argue, his phone buzzed in his pocket with a quicker vibration than normal. Speak of the devil.

Jaemin dug his phone out of his pocket and read the text from his mom, stating she was taking his father out on a surprise date so he was free for the night. He blinked at his phone screen blankly before looking up to Jeno.

“Did you know my mom was going to take my father out on a date tonight?”

Jeno smiled sheepishly.

“I may have convinced her it was a good idea, especially since you never get a break. It took me a while but she loves me so it wasn’t too hard to get her to agree to let you rest for one day.”

Jaemin would kiss Jeno if they weren’t currently standing in the middle of a public high school cafeteria, so he opted for giving him a fond smile and a tight hug.

“Well, I guess I will be able to go to the skate park for once in my life finally,” he noted and Jeno let out a happy noise.

“You can actually meet Hyuck!” He said with such excitement that it rubbed off on Jaemin easily. He nodded before the warning bell rang, giving them only three more minutes to get to where they needed to be.

“I’ll see you after school!” Jeno called over his shoulder as he ran in the opposite direction and Jaemin smiled before taking a deep breath and preparing himself for the hell that was going to be the next three hours of his life.


	3. donghyuck II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after school hang outs and a bet is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO
> 
> I would first like to apologize for the nearly 3 month hiatus of this fic. As I have previously mentioned, I work for a tax company and while I have had a month since the tax file cutoff, I felt like there was something missing in this fic and I couldn't write until I figured that out. As you can see, there's now a definitive amount of chapters; that's because I finally sat down and actually /wrote/ my outline in an google sheet and I feel infinitely more confident in this fic.
> 
> Second! I have a posting schedule that I have multiple people holding me to so as long as my mental health doesn't take a nosedive, I will be updating this fic every friday! I'm really excited to finish this fic now that I have all the weird hiccups smoothed out and planned.
> 
> Third, I don't know what's going on with the twt thread or if anyone's reading it even but it will eventually get updated, I am less concerned about that one though as they're just small extras.
> 
> Lastly, from this chapter on the "recreational drug use" tag will become much more prevalent. Also as a future warning, the tag "underage drinking" will be added (I will give plenty of warning on the chapter so no worries, it won't just sneak its way in if that's something you're uncomfy with!)
> 
> I think those are all the things I needed to mention, if I think of anything else there will be an edit under this. Again, I'm sorry about the delay but I hope this chapter makes up for it! The romantic plot is finally getting set in motion so you can all look forward to that!

Mrs. Barker was the absolute bane of Donghyuck’s existence. He wasn’t sure what he had done his Freshman year to make her hate him so much (that was a lie, he knew that sleeping through half her lessons and turning in every paper at least two days late was not the way to get on her good side, but he had still passed Freshman English with a low B so he didn’t think she’d hated him that much) but the next thing he knew, he was in her second period Junior American/English Lit class and she was constantly hounding him over every little thing. And Donghyuck was absolutely _sick_ of constantly being under fire.

“Donghyuck, did you finish your paper?” Her voice rang out over the class, pulling his attention from his phone where he had been texting his friends, already complaining about class even though it had started only ten minutes ago. Mrs. Barker was standing over his desk, hands holding a stack of essays that were meant to be handed in that morning and Donghyuck blanched. He swallowed down the lump of anxiety that immediately jumped into his throat.

“U-uh, I-” he cleared his throat, trying to think up an excuse quickly. “I did but I forgot to print it and it’s on my computer at home.”

Mrs. Barker’s face was less than impressed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“You’ve used that excuse the last four missing essays. I already told you to go rent a usb drive from the library, it’s not that hard to do.” She said, voice as dead as Donghyuck felt inside. He took a deep breath to try and calm down the anger that had started to flicker in his chest at her comments. “Just go to the ISS room, you can stay there until you actually write your paper,” she said after a few seconds of Donghyuck not saying anything and the anger quickly sparked into a raging fire that burned a hole right behind his sternum.

“I have another class before lunch, you can’t just do that,” he said, quickly standing up as well as he could between the desk and its attached seat.

“I will let Ms. Frieden know you won’t be in her class today. You can go now.”

“This is absolute  _bullshit_ ,” Donghyuck snapped as he picked up his backpack and stormed towards the door of the classroom.

“Just for that, even if you finish your paper early, you can’t leave until the end of lunch,” she retorted with a smug expression and a small wave and Donghyuck felt like he was going to burn alive from the absolute rage. He threw the door open, almost knocking a passerby in the face but Donghyuck couldn’t bring himself to care.

Taking only a moment to look at said person’s face - just in case he knew them and would have to explain himself later - he was met with a mixture of soft and sharp features that he didn’t recognize. Donghyuck probably would have stopped on a normal day, possibly tried to get his number even, but it wasn’t a normal day and he was still pissed off. It only took that moment for Donghyuck to engrave the stranger’s face into his mind before he pushed him to the side roughly. “Watch where you’re fucking going, asshole,” he ended up saying as he kept walking, brain absolutely clouded.

“You’re the one who threw the door open in my face!” The boy called back and Donghyuck was certain the other’s voice was shaking, and not out of anger, but he paid it no mind as he threw up his middle finger and stormed off.

 

The ISS room was no more than a room in the library with one computer that was monitored by the librarian, Mrs. Dawson. She had taken a liking to Donghyuck his sophomore year when he had started going in there during his lunches to read anything and everything in the school’s limited manga section. She’d let him check out more than the 2 books per student limit since she knew he would be bringing them back to return the next day anyways.

“Hyuck, when will you learn to just do your English work on time?” Mrs. Dawson asked with a fond smile as he walked through the left side of the double glass doors.

“When Mrs. Barker learns not to send me here for ISS,” Donghyuck responded with a fake grin that he quickly dropped once out of her line of sight. He was still silently seething but Dawson deserved better than that. He walked into the small room, devoid of anyone else, and set his bag down next to the computer chair. He stretched his back before sitting down and pulling out the flashdrive that held his half finished paper.

 

True to her word, Donghyuck wasn’t allowed to leave the library until the lunch break was over, having to sit in the room by himself during the entire fifty minutes they were given to eat. He sat on his phone, texting Jeno angrily as he received updates about how Jaemin and his friends were at their lunch table and everyone was getting along really well. He felt left out but he knew it was his own fault, he easily could have finished his paper last night but he had decided to sneak out at midnight to go smoke at the skate park by himself after he and his dad got into yet _another_ argument about what he was going to be doing after high school.

The pressure to do something amazing was overwhelming to Donghyuck as the oldest out of his siblings. He was supposed to be a great influence on his three younger siblings but he rarely felt like he was. He was just barely a B average student, he smoked weed, and did some other probably less than legal things when out with his friends on weekends. He wasn’t exactly the picture older brother his parents wanted him to be.

Donghyuck let out a strained breath as he leaned back in his seat. There was only five minutes left of this torture before he could go to his fourth period class and then the rest of his day was a breeze; having his ceramics class and then his last being his TA period in the library. At the very end of lunch, Mark had sent him a bunch of winky emojis and Donghyuck was left thoroughly confused since the Senior left him on read every time he questioned him.

The bell rang, allowing Donghyuck to finally breathe as he stood up and cracked his back. Mrs. Dawson gave him a look that told him to stop causing so much trouble but Donghyuck just threw a bright grin back at her and left the library, heading towards his physics class.

 

Jeno had told them all to go ahead after school, Mark and Lucas just waving over their shoulders with their free hands - the other ones intertwined between their bodies - as they started walking to Lucas’s old white 2001 Toyota Corolla, of which held their skateboards and scooters. Chenle had started going with the two Seniors before realizing Donghyuck wasn’t following.

“What’s up, Hyuck?” The younger called and Donghyuck jolted out of his thoughts.

“What is Jeno doing?” He asked and Chenle shrugged.

“Jaemin is able to hang out today and Jeno wants to walk him to the skate park,” the Sophomore answered easily and Donghyuck furrowed his eyebrows.

“He didn’t tell me he was dating-”

“You think-?!” Chenle cut off both their words with a high pitched laughter that made Donghyuck clench his teeth and shove the younger. “Jeno is so _so_ insanely whipped for Jaemin and Jisung’s friend Renjun, it’s a little bit ridiculous.”

Donghyuck blinked before laughing as well.

“Is Renjun going to be there today? I need to see this with my own eyes,” he asked and Chenle grinned wide with his nod.

“The whole gang is going to be there! Jaemin seemed pretty upset he didn’t get to meet you at lunch today,” Chenle commented offhandedly as the excitement subsided.

Donghyuck felt himself blush for reasons he wasn’t entirely sure of himself.

“O-oh? What makes you say that?”

“I dunno, I don’t know him that well but after everyone was introduced he seemed to be waiting for more and didn’t really seem all that happy when Jeno and Mark told him about your lunch detention, which - by the way, you’re an idiot.”

Donghyuck gaped at the end of the younger’s words and Chenle laughed again before rolling his eyes.

“Well, either way, you two are definitely going to get along. Everyone else in the group adore him already.”

Donghyuck rolled his eyes but nodded along; there was no way they wouldn’t get along if Jaemin got along with everyone else.

 

Donghyuck had just dropped down into the bowl from the sloped edge when the sound of the metal gate opening screeched around them. He made his way around the bowl to turn himself around but as soon as Jeno and the three newcomers came into view, Donghyuck felt his blood run cold. He instantly recognized one of the strangers; the boy he’d almost given a broken face to.

Said boy - who seriously was prettier than anyone Donghyuck had ever seen, even Jeno, and that was a feat in itself - looked him dead in the eye and his gaze hardened. Oh no.

“You-!” The boy started and everyone turned their eyes on him, the sudden attention not deterring his sudden outburst. “You’re the asshole that almost slammed a door in my face!!” He yelled and Donghyuck’s eyes physically could not get wider, but he tried his best.

He turned his attention to Jeno who looked as if he was about to pee himself from trying not to laugh, as did everyone else at that park.

“I- I didn’t know you were going to be right there!” Donghyuck yelled back and Jaemin rolled his eyes and crossed his arms dramatically.

“You literally flipped me off after yelling at me.”

“I–”

“So I see you two have met already,” Jeno interrupted, a look in his eyes that spelled nothing but trouble for Donghyuck’s life. “Hyuck, this is Jaemin. Jaemin, that’s Donghyuck.”

Jaemin’s eyes widened and then went back to the closed off look.

“Well you’re a much bigger jerk than I expected from everyone’s hype,” Jaemin said with his arms still crossed over his chest.

“I’m- You’ve only seen me when I’m upset for getting kicked out of class!” Donghyuck yelled back, temper flaring up once more that day.

Jaemin shrugged and smirked as he turned his head away and that made Donghyuck feel the consuming feeling of anger swell in his chest.

“You’re not so great, yourself, they told me you were super nice!”

“I am nice,” Jaemin hissed, the juxtaposition almost laughable. “Just not to people who don’t even apologize for almost injuring someone.”

Donghyuck blinked, taken aback. Had he not apologized? He thought back and realized the other was right. He opened his mouth to respond when Jaemin just huffed a breath and turned around, walking to sit on the table less than five feet from the gate.

“Don’t apologize just because I said that, that’s not a genuine apology,” he called and Donghyuck was going to rip out his hair.

“That went well,” Chenle said with a grin and Donghyuck ran to one of the flat edges from where he was still stood inside the bowl and hoisted himself up. He chased after Chenle only to tackle the younger onto the grass just outside the gates, the younger’s pleas falling on uncaring ears.

He missed it, but had he looked over, Donghyuck would have seen Jaemin trying to keep himself from smiling at the rambunctious duo wrestling loudly.

 

After some amount of time, Jaemin stepped away to go to the bathroom, Renjun following along quickly, leaving the other six boys to their own devices. Lucas was the first to speak up.

“Hey Hyuck, did you bring your pipe with you?”

Donghyuck nodded with a bright smile and then gave Lucas a look that the rest had trouble deciphering.

“Did you _not_ bring yours?”

“I was going to but Mark said no.”

Mark rolled his eyes and shoved both his best friend’s and soulmate’s shoulders.

“I am only looking out for your safety, you drive recklessly,” he said while looking towards the bathrooms and waiting for the other two to come back. “You shouldn’t have paraphernalia in your vehicle or on you if you’re gonna be like that.”

Lucas laughed loudly but nodded.

“Yes yes, you know I drive much safer if I do have anything in my car.”

Mark gave him an incredulous look that had Donghyuck almost falling over from laughter as he opened his backpack to pull out his pipe and simple silver grinder.

“You’re barely any better, Hyuck.” Mark started, turning his attention now onto Donghyuck.

“Hey, what did I do to warrant this attack?”

“Stop taking your pipe and weed to school,” Mark said and Donghyuck looked back and forth from his now open backpack, homework and notes crumpled together near the bottom while the pipe was balanced on top of the binder Barker demanded they all have.

“I mean, they’ve never found me with any and I don’t get searched anymore,” Donghyuck reasoned and Jeno bursted into a fit of giggles.

“‘Anymore,’ he says,” Jeno said, throwing up air quotes.

“Shut up, at least I’ve never gone to school after a night of drinking,” Donghyuck said as he finished loading the pipe, screwing the top of his grinder back on and setting it back into his backpack.

“The fuck, guys, stop circling back around to me!” Lucas said, hands up in an innocent gesture.

“Maybe if you stopped doing reckless things we wouldn’t have things to circle back around to,” Renjun said as he walked back up to the group.

Donghyuck looked up to see Jaemin not far behind and they glared slightly at each other before Donghyuck took a hit from the pipe, passing it to his left immediately after. Mark rolled his eyes but took the glass piece from his best friend’s hands and took a small hit of his own.

“Mark’s actually smoking today?” Jisung asked, a small amount of wonder in his voice that made Lucas crack up as he took the pipe from his soulmate and boyfriend.

“You act as if he’s some saint,” Donghyuck laughed and that got most of the others to laugh.

“Yeah but he doesn’t normally smoke if I’m around,” Jisung said and Mark made a disappointed face.

“I’m too stressed dealing with these two to care today,” he said as he laid back on the concrete.

“Nana, come sit down already,” Jeno called and Donghyuck looked up in slight confusion before realizing Jaemin had stayed standing a few feet away.

They looked at each other before realizing the spot Jeno was gesturing to was between himself and Donghyuck. Jaemin hesitated before letting out a visible sigh, his shoulders falling heavily before he walked over to sit in between the two.

The pipe had made its way around to Renjun, Chenle having taken it from Lucas and trying to skip over Jisung who pouted until he was allowed to take a hit, and Donghyuck felt slightly cloudier than normal.

“So Jaemin, how long have you been a dancer?” Chenle asked, breaking the small silence that fell over the group.

“I started when I was a kid, but my dad is more the reason I’m still dancing today,” he said with an awkward expression, fingernails scraping at his nape and slightly diverting Donghyuck’s attention.

Jeno passed the pipe to Jaemin with an openly questioning look and Donghyuck went to open his mouth, a teasing remark at the tip of his tongue before he saw the bowl was cashed and Jaemin was about to try and take a hit.

“Hold up,” Donghyuck interrupted, taking the pipe from Jaemin’s hand.

“Hey, I’m not a child,” Jaemin said with disdain and Donghyuck rolled his eyes before blowing lightly on the bowl and seeing all the ash fly out, leaving a resin coated bowl devoid of anything smokable.

“You may not be but this is still cashed, you wouldn’t have got anything from it anyways,” he said, grabbing his grinder once more and reloading the piece delicately held in his hands. After a few seconds, the bowl was green once more and Donghyuck was handing it back to the man on his left.

“Know how to smoke from a pipe?” Donghyuck teased and Jaemin rolled his eyes.

“I told you, I’m not a child.”

“Okay but being a child and not having smoked weed before don’t exactly relate,” Donghyuck said exasperatedly.

Jaemin rolled his eyes and mimicked the actions of the people before him, holding the lighter to the bowl and inhaling steadily before a cough wracked his whole body, Donghyuck quickly saving the pipe from being thrown while Jeno patted his best friend’s back.

“This,” Donghyuck started, “this is why I asked if you’ve ever smoked before.” Within a second a water bottle was being taken from Donghyuck’s backpack and was being shoved into Jaemin’s hands. “Drink that.”

Jaemin eyed the bottle wearily but as the coughing kept itself going, he decided it wasn’t worth it and started chugging the water the second his lungs let him breathe.

“You good?” Donghyuck asked after the other was quiet for longer than a few seconds. There were tears clinging to Jaemin’s lashes and Donghyuck felt a strange urge to wipe them away.

Jaemin nodded before handing the lighter to his left and Donghyuck smiled and let out a small laugh before taking a probably-too-large hit and passing the pipe on. He held the smoke in as Renjun and Jeno started talking, Donghyuck observing how much Jeno blushed around the other.

“Are you gonna breathe?” Jaemin asked, slightly panicked and Donghyuck rolled his eyes as he let go of his breath. Jaemin’s eyes widened a little seeing no evidence of the hit Donghyuck had just taken.

“It’s called ghosting.”

“Yeah, and he thinks it does more for getting him high but really its just the lack of oxygen,” Mark explained with a roll of his eyes when Donghyuck pouted.

“Way to make me look like a loser.”

“You did that all on your own,” Mark retorted and Jaemin laughed slightly, his eyes starting to droop slightly.

“Nana, when are you gonna have to be home?” Jeno asked as he took the piece from Renjun.

“Not till later, Mom gave me my normal curfew back for tonight,” he said, leaning his back against the cement bench behind him.

Jeno nodded before passing the pipe directly to Donghyuck, Jaemin furrowing his brow in irritation.

“I’m fine,” he said and Donghyuck grinned as he put the pipe back in his bag.

“Yeah but that bowl is cashed and it’s time for more skating,” he said as he stood up and stretched, the others following suit and leaving Jaemin sitting by himself.

 

Over the next two hours they were able to hang out at the skatepark, Donghyuck learned a few key facts about Na Jaemin.

  1. He loved affection. Almost as much as Donghyuck himself it seemed with how often he would catch the dancer with his arms around Jeno or Renjun’s necks, hanging off to the side and sometimes sneaking in small smooches to their cheeks.
  2. He was insanely good at riding a bike. Which seemed to give Jaemin some kind of complex since he kept making comments about Donghyuck’s skating and where he could improve (to which Donghyuck mostly disregarded or would throw a snide remark about how Jaemin’s landings didn’t look too solid - they were fine, Donghyuck was just petty).
  3. His laugh was brighter and more beautiful than anything Donghyuck had ever seen. Which was a shame considering Jaemin hadn’t done more than only slightly laugh at some of Donghyuck’s antics.



The two had spent most of their time bickering back and forth, the rest of their friends leaving them alone for much of the hangout. Donghyuck couldn’t pinpoint exactly what Jaemin made him feel but it felt similar to how his anger manifested, so irritation was probably his best guess. By the time they were all too tired to continue skating, the sun was just beginning to dip below the mountains, painting the sky a beautiful gradient of warm into cool colors.

Chenle and Jisung left first, Lucas having offered to drive the two youngest and Mark home in his shitty car, to which the other four had waved and said their goodbyes.

“Hey Jeno, can you walk me home?” Renjun asked once the car had driven off and all but Donghyuck’s skateboard in the small trunk. Donghyuck hadn’t thought much on Renjun’s question until Jaemin squawked at Jeno’s subsequent affirmation.

“No, Jeno has to walk with me! My mom will kill me if I show up at home by myself, you know how weird she gets about me being by myself this late,” he yelled at his friends and Renjun rolled his eyes.

“You’ve been to Jeno’s before, right Hyuck?” He asked, looking directly at Donghyuck who nodded quickly. “Great, then you can walk Jaemin home.”

“Woah wait hold up-”

“Hey that’s not-”

Donghyuck and Jaemin protested at the same time, turning to face each other as they stopped their sentences. After a moment of tense silence Donghyuck spoke up.

“Why can’t he just walk with Jeno and you?” He asked, aiming his question at Renjun rather than talking to Jaemin directly.

“Renjun lives like a mile from my house and I have a curfew,” Jaemin replied instead, rolling his eyes as if this was information Donghyuck was meant to just know.

“Well sorry I don’t know your whole life story after meeting you for one day,” he sassed back and Jaemin opened his mouth to argue the point before Jeno spoke over both of them.

“Alrighty then, it’s settled. Hyuck, walk Jaemin home, Renjun and I are leaving now,” Jeno said with a warm smile that put Donghyuck at a loss for a comeback.

“We have no choice,” Donghyuck stated after a few moments of silence. A pout formed on his lips before he turned to face Jaemin, who whipped his eyes away from where they’d previously been focused (Donghyuck swore the slightly taller male had been staring at his lips but he’d let it slide this one time).

“My mom texted me ten minutes ago saying I need to be home soon so we have to go,” was all Jaemin said and Donghyuck let out a sigh. He started walking towards a wash, skateboard in one hand and other gripping the strap of the backpack he had resting on his left shoulder.

“Where are you going?” Jaemin called, not moving from his spot.

“There’s a shortcut through this wash, you’ll get home quicker,” Donghyuck called over his shoulder, not stopping in his path and he could hear hurried footsteps before Jaemin was next to him again.

“You know, you’re not doing a great job in convincing me you’re not an asshole.”

Donghyuck shrugged. “Shouldn’t have to convince you. You should be able to look at me and recognize me as the god I am,” he said with an overly-cocky smile that made Jaemin scoff.

“Keep digging that hole there, buddy,” he said with a roll of his eyes and Donghyuck let out a genuine laugh.

“So you go to Neo Arts?” Donghyuck asked after s few seconds, trying to keep the conversation as light as he could for the nearly ten minute walk to Jaemin’s house.

“Yeah,” Jaemin responded shortly and Donghyuck’s chest tightened slightly in annoyance.

“I’m really trying to be nice here,” Donghyuck said and Jaemin looked over with a raised eyebrow.

“Are you now?” He asked, a mocking tone coating his words and Donghyuck had to keep his temper in check.

“I was but now you’re the one being a dick, so I guess never mind,” he decided to shoot back and Jaemin rolled his eyes again.

“Says the guy who still hasn’t apologized for almost breaking my nose earlier.”

“You told me not to apologize because it would seem insincere! How is this my fault?!”

“You still could have tried to apologize.”

“Well now I’m not sorry,” Donghyuck said and had to keep a laugh in at the scandalized look Jaemin gave him.

“And you wonder why I don’t think you’re nice,” he said with a roll of his eyes and Donghyuck actually did let out his laugh at that.

“Alright, come on, I’m just messing around. You’re important to Jeno, so what do I need to do to get on your good side?” Donghyuck asked with a pair of puppy eyes that he had been told could melt even the coldest of hearts. Jaemin seemed unaffected.

They walked in silence for a few more moments before Jaemin finally spoke up, arms crossed over his chest and gaze barely on Donghyuck’s figure out of the corner of his eyes. “You can only gain my forgiveness if you walk me to and from school every day for the next month, _including_ my weekend rehearsals. Otherwise, it’s just not gonna happen.” Jaemin finished his statement with a self-satisfied look, almost taunting Donghyuck with the fact that he would most definitely not do that.

Well, he would now apparently.

“Pfft, that’s it? I can do that, _easy_ ,” he said with a scoff and Jaemin raised an eyebrow.

“Oh really? I give it a day before you give up,” Jaemin said and Donghyuck always did love a good challenge.

“Alright, if I make it the full month you have to forgive me for almost breaking your nose.”

“And if you drop out like I know you will, I get to forever hold this grudge and never have to let it go,” Jaemin replied and Donghyuck genuinely laughed in response.

“That’s so unhealthy sounding but alright,” Donghyuck said with a loud laugh. “Whatever floats your boat man.”

They turned onto the street Donghyuck knew to be the one Jeno and Jaemin lived on and their conversation slowly filtered out to silence, the sun now completely set and the stars peeking out from the still darkening sky. Donghyuck looked over to catch Jaemin averting his eyes quickly. Maybe he’d let it go twice.

“So, starting Monday?” Donghyuck asked, their steps slowing as they stopped outside Jaemin’s house. Jaemin nodded, checking his phone before letting out a sigh.

“Get here no later than 7 in the morning, and then after school I don’t get out until 5 so if you’re later than 5:15 I will bail on you and you’ll lose this bet,” Jaemin warned before turning around and walking up to his door.

“Alright, you got it, pretty boy,” Donghyuck called and Jaemin’s reaction of slamming his front door slightly louder than necessary was all the satisfaction Donghyuck needed. Now he needed to take the weekend to prepare himself for what he just signed himself up for with his next month.

**Author's Note:**

> please come scream at me on twt, my writing is @minhoneyboysuga and my main is @nahyuckminist!
> 
> the twt thread will get updated later this weekend when i have the time!


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